''Can't Tell Me Nothing: The Official Mixtape'' is the fifth

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

by American rapper

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

. It was made freely available over the internet on May 27, 2007 in anticipation of the release of his third studio album, ''

Graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

'', of which it is named after the lead single, which is included as the first track of the mixtape.

Background

The official mixtape was hosted by West alongside his A&R,

Plain Pat Patrick Reynolds, known professionally as Plain Pat, is an American record producer, Talent Manager#Music manager, talent manager, record executive and disc jockey (DJ). He is perhaps best known for his work with American rapper Kid Cudi, havin ...

. Overall, it is compiled of songs made by various artists signed onto West's

G.O.O.D. Music GOOD Music (often stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American independent record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label entered an exclusive long-term worldwide music distribution, distributi ...

label, collaborations with other unaffiliated musicians, and preview versions of certain songs that would later appear on ''

''. The mixtape was very well received and gave off several tracks that later became successful singles.

Reception

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

awarded ''Can't Tell Me Nothing'' an A− rating and complimented it for expressing a high quality in comparison to most promotional mixtapes, claiming, "Even with a few duds, this might be the album of the year." On its general review of the mixtape, Stylus wrote, "''Can't Tell Me Nothing'' is one mixtape that should be legendary on its own, rather than piggybacking off its 'parent' album. It's as diverse as anything I've heard this year, both as intelligent and as stoopid as it wants to be (cf. " Us Placers" vs. " Throw Some D's (Remix)"), and gloriously so." Rock critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

dictated, "Get this while you can from the mixtape man no matter how much of it is destined for the real album." URB wrote, "Although the scatterbrained way Kanye chooses to present himself will continue to face scrutiny and divide opinion, any critic would be hard pressed to deny his talent. Whatever persona he adopts, whether relatively restrained or unsurprisingly in your face, the artist rarely fails to engage." ''Can't Tell Me Nothing'' won "Mixtape of the Year" at the 2007 Vibe Awards.

Track listing

References

{{Kanye West Albums produced by Kanye West Kanye West albums 2007 mixtape albums GOOD Music mixtape albums Roc-A-Fella Records albums Def Jam Recordings mixtape albums

Background

Reception

Track listing

See also

References